I can think of a few:
Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla
The Day The Fish Came Out
The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant
Pink Flamingos
Snow White and the Three Stooges
I can think of a few:
Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla
The Day The Fish Came Out
The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant
Pink Flamingos
Snow White and the Three Stooges
I actually love that one
I will nominate this one: **Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? **
To me, the most uninspired film title of all time has to be The Producers.
It sounds as if they just couldn’t be bothered to think up an interesting title.
I’m far too impatient to see if this has been mentioned yet, but my nominee for worst movie title is…
I know who killed me
It really doesn’t get worse than that.
Me, I love a good clever title (and I include puns in that. YMMV). This title was the title of the (award-winning, if I mistake not) science fiction short story it’s based on. Unfortunately, as is usual, the movie is an awful interpretation of the story, despite being made for PBS (who had done a great job on Lathe of Heaven), and ended up being grilled by MST3K.
I haven’t read the entire thread so I’m not sure if “Eyes Wide Shut” has been mentioned yet. What a horrible title. Sounds awkward, gives no clue as to what the movie’s about (of course, you could see this movie and still not know what it’s about).
Thought I’d stop lurking and finally post something!
There’s actually a bit of a debate over that title - Krakatoa is regarded (mostly by geologists like me, who are picky little buggers) as a Westernized spelling; geologists and Indonesians tend to prefer Krakatau.
(I once witnessed a crowd of upset volcanologists wave a book with “Krakatoa” in the title around, crying blasphemy and calling down the wrath of peer review on the author’s head. Quite amusing.)
Yeah, I just read Winchester’s book on it a couple of months ago. Apparently “Krakatau:” has actually been in use longer as a written name, too. Something happened to make “Krakatoa” the more widely used form.
Winchester’s book is good, but he does say enough about the actual eruption, and peoples’ experiences. And he blames the guy who wrote the novelization of the film for the “East of Java” screwup, which is patently absurd.
I’ll go with The World’s Fastest Indian. Even once you figure out what the title refers to, you’re like, “Wow, you mean of all the Indian-brand motorcycles, that one’s the fastest? No other motorcycle from that particular manufacturer can be found that is faster anywhere in the world? Amazing!”
*Lorenzo’s Oil.
The Cinderella Man.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!*
On the most recent The Simpsons, Sideshow Bob said he had an offer to direct The Hills Have Eyes IV: The Hills Still Have Eyes.
David Letterman once joked that Eat Drink Man Woman is how Arnold Schwarzenegger used to invite girls out on dates.
Thought of another one, which probably only hasn’t been mentioned yet because no one saw the damn thing: Reindeer Games. IMDb plot synopsis: “After assuming his dead cellmate’s identity to get with his girlfriend, an ex-con finds himself the reluctant participant in a casino heist.” Soooo…there’s…reindeer? Somehow?
I think the word is “jaunty.” Or it’s a science fiction movie.
It was such a good movie, you’d think they could have come up with a better title: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Talk to someone about it and you can see them losing interest while you’re listing the "mad"s. And what does it even have to do with the events in the movie? There were a lot of characters, but they didn’t represent the whole world.
Oh, before I forget:
Midnight in the garden of good and evil
Eh? I know it was named after a book but it’s still a pretty wanky title.
I nominate Herbie: Fully Loaded and Octopussy.
I know Bond movies have lots of very thinly-disguised sexual references, but jeeze.
Heh…my husband consistantly forgets the title Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and ALWAYS calls it “Captain Tomorrow and the World of the Future”, which I find, for some reason, hilarious. Both titles are equally ludicrous.
I’d have to nominate Pecker, which is a fantastic film by a fantastic director, and I personally have no problem with the title, but christ did I have to explain myself to a lot of people when they asked what movie my friend and I were on our way to that afternoon.
It’s made even worse by the actual title being Hav Plenty, without the “e”.
Vanilla Sky doesn’t make sense unless you know
the painting in David’s mother’s bedroom is a Monet called “Vanilla Sky”.
The opposite of the OP to me, and used to good effect, would be A History of Violence. The specificity of the wordplay comes out as you get more into the film.
I’d like to nominate Lucky Number Slevin. It’s like they started with a title, tweaked it a bit, and worked backwards to an unlikely and unpronounceable character name.
Contrived & unpronounceable.
There is actually a movie called Sammie and Rosie Get Laid.
Don’t ask how I know this.
Most of the ones I’m seeing in this thread seem to me like they’re disqualified b/c they’re unique enough to remember, so the marketing department did the job.
For me it’s titles that are so vapid and unmemorable that I won’t even bother to get info on them when scrolling through my DVR. Looking at my movie channels right now, here’s a short list:
Once Around
Haven
Citizen Verdict
All the rest on there are either memorable enough that I know something about them, or distinctive enough that I can get a feeling for what they’re about. But those three? Nothing.
(Since it’s being discussed, I may as well add my Autosig to this one):